We already posted a few pictures of our visit with Janet and Tyree at the Victor Street Ranch, but we also took a lacidazical tour around Lake Whatcom and up to Silver Lake Park where I worked for a couple of summers. We went to Whatcom Falls as well. I took the boys to breakfast at the Little Cheerful Cafe and had a wonderful crabcake benedict on my favoite Fiesta Ware. I took the boys by all the old houses where I used to live. We spent the morning running around Whatcom Falls. The boys did some pretty technical hiking and enjoyed the river and hatchery. It made me nervous to have them so close to the falls, but they were great and listened well. It was amazing how similar the plant species composition was to that which we have hear in Northern California. There was Ninebark, Indian plum, Baneberry, Maidenhair Fern, Salal, Red huckleberry, Elderberry and more than a handful of introduced plants. I remembered most of the species I hadn't seen for a time, but there really weren't very many. I even recognized a lot of the non-vascular plants. I had to take a picture of the sun shining through the vine maple. I don't think there is much I like more. We rented a paddle boat at Silver Lake and paddled around hunting for tadpoles and making games avoiding lily pads and algae. We came back down and drove to Renton to see the Frankles. The kids ran through the sprinklers and painted (everything but the paper). It was great to talk to Christina and meet her friends as well.
